It is obvious to
all of us that world conditions have changed violently since the first American
Neutrality Act of 1935. The Neu­trality Act of 1939 was passed at a time when
the true magnitude of the Nazi attempt to dominate the world was visualized by
few persons. We heard it said, indeed, that this new European war was not a
real war, and that the contending armies would remain behind their im­pregnable
fortifications and never really fight. In this atmosphere the Neutrality Act
seemed reasonable. But so did the Maginot Line.

Since then—in
these past two tragic years—war has spread from continent to continent; very
many nations have been conquered and enslaved; great cities have been laid in
ruins; millions of human beings have been killed, soldiers and sailors and
civilians alike. Never before has such widespread devastation been visited upon
God's earth and God's children.

The pattern of
the future—the future as Hitler seeks to shape it—­is now as clear and as
ominous as the headlines of today's newspapers.

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Through these
years of war we Americans have never been neutral in thought. We have never
been indifferent to the fate of Hitler's victims. And, increasingly, we have
become aware of the peril to ourselves, to our democratic traditions and
institutions, to our country, and to our hemisphere.

We have known
what victory for the aggressors would mean to us. Therefore, the American
people, through the Congress, have taken important and costly steps to give
great aid to those nations actively fighting against Nazi‑Fascist
domination.

We know that we
could not defend ourselves in Long Island Sound or in San Francisco Bay. That
would be too late. It is the American policy to defend ourselves wherever such
defense becomes necessary under the complex conditions of modern warfare.

Therefore, it
has become necessary that this Government should not be handicapped in carrying
out the clearly announced policy of the Congress and of the people. We must
face the truth that the Neutrality Act requires a complete reconsideration in
the light of known facts.

The revisions
which I suggest do not call for a declaration of war any more than the Lend‑Lease
Act called for a declaration of war. This is a matter of essential defense of
American rights.

In the
Neutrality Act are various crippling provisions. The repeal or modification of
these provisions will not leave the United States any less neutral than we are
today, but will make it possible for us to defend the Americas far more
successfully, and to give aid far more effectively against the tremendous
forces now marching towards conquest of the world.

Under the
Neutrality Act we established certain areas as zones of combat into which no
American‑flag ships could proceed. Hitler proclaimed certain far larger
areas as zones of combat into which any neutral ship, regardless of its flag or
the nature of its cargo, could proceed only at its peril. We know now that
Hitler recognizes no limitation on any zone of combat in any part of the seven
seas. He has struck at our ships and at the lives of our sailors within the
waters of the Western Hemisphere. Determined as he is to gain domination of the
entire world, he considers the entire world his own battlefield.

Ships of the
United States and of other American republics continue to be sunk, not only in
the imaginary zone proclaimed by the Nazis in the North Atlantic, but also in
the zoneless South Atlantic.

I recommend the
repeal of section 6 of the act of November 4, 1939, which prohibits the arming
of American‑flag ships engaged in foreign commerce.

The practice of
arming merchant ships for civilian defense is an old

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one. It has never been prohibited
by international law. Until 1937 it had never been prohibited by any statute of
the United States. Through our whole history American merchant vessels have
been armed whenever it was considered necessary for their own defense.

It is an
imperative need now to equip American merchant vessels with arms. We are faced
not with the old type of pirates but with. the modern pirates of the sea who
travel beneath the surface or on the surface or in the air destroying
defenseless ships without warning and without provision for the safety of the
passengers and crews.

Our merchant
vessels are sailing the seas on missions connected with the defense of the
United States. It is not just that the crews of these vessels should be denied
the means of defending their lives and their ships.

Although the
arming of merchant vessels does not guarantee their safety, it most certainly
adds to their safety. In the event of an attack by a raider they have a chance
to keep the enemy at a distance until help comes. In the case of an attack by
air, they have at least a chance to shoot down the enemy or keep the enemy at
such height that it cannot make a sure hit. If it is a submarine, the armed
merchant ship compels the submarine to use a torpedo while submerged—and many
torpedoes thus fired miss their mark. The submarine can no longer rise to the
surface within a few hundred yards and sink the merchant ship by gunfire at its
leisure.

Already we take
many precautions against the danger of mines—and it seems somewhat incongruous
that we have authority today to "degauss" our ships as a protection
against mines, whereas we have no authority to arm them in protection against
aircraft or raiders or submarines.

The arming of
our ships is a matter of immediate necessity and extreme urgency. It is not
more important than some other crippling provisions in the present act, but
anxiety for the safety of our crews and of the almost priceless goods that are
within the holds of our ships leads me to recommend that you, with all speed,
strike the prohibition against arming our ships from the statute books.

There are other
phases of the Neutrality Act to the correction of which I hope the Congress
will give earnest and early attention. One of these provisions is of major
importance. I believe that it is essen­tial to the proper defense of our
country that we cease giving the definite assistance which we are now giving to
the aggressors. For, in effect, we are inviting their control of the seas by keeping
our ships out of the ports of our own friends.

It is time for
this country to stop playing into Hitler's hands, and to unshackle our own.

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A vast, number
of ships are sliding into the water from the American ship-building ways. We are
lending them to the enemies of Hitlerism and they are carrying food and
supplies and munitions to belligerent ports in order to withstand Hitler's
juggernaut.

Most of the
vital goods authorized by the Congress are being deliv­ered. Yet many of them
are being sunk; and as we approach full production requiring the use of more
ships now being built it will be increasingly necessary to deliver American
goods under the American flag.

We cannot, and
should not, depend on the strained resources of the exiled nations of Norway
and Holland to deliver our goods, nor should we be forced to masquerade
American‑owned ships behind the flags of our sister republics.

I earnestly
trust that the Congress will carry out the true intent of the Lend‑Lease
Act by making it possible for the United States to help to deliver the articles
to those who are in a position effectively to use them. In other words, I ask
for congressional action to imple­ment congressional policy. Let us be
consistent.

I would not go
back to the earlier days when private traders could gamble with American life
and property in the hope of personal gain, and thereby embroil this country in
some incident in which the American public had no direct interest. But today,
under the con­trols exercised by the Government, no ship and no cargo can leave
the United States, save on, an errand which has first been approved by
governmental authority. And the test of that approval is whether the
exportation will promote the defense of the United States.

I cannot impress
too strongly upon the Congress the seriousness of the military situation that
confronts all of the nations that are combating Hitler.

We would be
blind to the realities if we did not recognize that Hitler is now determined to
expend all the resources and all the mechanical force and manpower at his
command to crush both Rus­sia and Britain. He knows that he is racing against
time. He has heard the rumblings of revolt among the enslaved peoples—includ­ing
the Germans and Italians. He fears the mounting force of American aid. He knows
that the days in which he may achieve total victory are numbered.

Therefore, it is
our duty, as never before, to extend more and more assistance and ever more
swiftly to Britain, to Russia, to all peoples and individuals fighting slavery.
We must do this without fear or favor. The ultimate fate of the Western
Hemisphere lies in the balance.

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I say to you
solemnly that if Hitler's present military plans are brought to successful
fulfillment, we Americans shall be forced to fight in defense of our own homes
and our own freedom in a war a costly and as devastating as that which now
rages on the Russia, front.

Hitler has
offered a challenge which we as Americans cannot and will not tolerate.

We will not let
Hitler prescribe the waters of the world on which our ships may travel. The
American flag is not going to be driven from the seas either by his submarines,
his airplanes, or his threats.

We cannot permit
the affirmative defense of our rights to be annulled and diluted by sections of
the Neutrality Act which have no realism in the light of unscrupulous ambition
of madmen.

We Americans
have determined our course.

We intend to
maintain the security and the integrity and the honor of our country.

We intend to
maintain the policy of protecting the freedom of the seas against domination by
any foreign power which has become crazed with a desire to control the world.
We shall do so with a our strength and all our heart and all our mind.